Just a bit of good news. Japan Airlines (JAL) finally emerges from bankruptcy protection today. JAL has procured 254.96 billion yen and made full repayment of the 395.15 billion rehabilitation debts. It will raise 12.7 billion yen through third party allotment of common shared but has no plans for additional financing right now.

Although it finally emerges from bankruptcy, the outlook is still cloudy due to the sharp drop in demand caused by the Tohoku Pacific Earthquake and the nuclear crisis. JAL saw 28% drop in domestic passengers and 25% drop in international ones. While ANA only saw 25% and 15% drop in domestic and international passengers respectively. JAL is hit way harder on international side than ANA :(

Sources:
Nikkei
Bloomberg

Shortly after its bankruptcy filing in the Tokyo District Court, Japan Airlines has filed a Chapter 15 protection in Manhattan court. Yesterday, JAL's protection request was granted.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Peck granted JAL the protection today with no objection against the bid. With the Chapter 15 protection, JAL is protected against US lawsuits from creditors while it is undergoing restructuring under Tokyo's court protection. All JAL's U.S. creditors are now bound by the terms of the restructuring proceeding in Japan.

Source: Business Week

Related Post:
JAL filed Chapter 15 proceeding in New York

Japan Airlines has filed for Chapter 15 proceeding in New York court after filing for bankruptcy in Japan. According to Reuters, "Chapter 15 of U.S. bankruptcy laws deals with cases involving more than one country and allows U.S. courts to recognize the actions of insolvency proceedings in foreign countries." I guess this is the expected results. JAL probably has to file this type of protection in other countries too.

Update: JAL has added a link to the court filing. Here is the link to all the court documents. The first hearing is at 16:00 Eastern Time today (Jan 19 2010).

Japan Airlines has updated its website with a new banner saying "JAL. We're here to stay". It links to a page explaining to passengers that JAL will remain operational even after bankruptcy filing. It assure reservation and ticketing remains fully operational. JMB program remain effective. Other JAL companies, e.g. JALCard, JALPAK, JAL Tours, etc will operate as normal. Here is the link to the page in English and Japanese. And US site has added a link to page with more detailed information.

JAL American Region Main Page:

Japan Airlines has issued a statement regarding its restructuring. Below are the highlights:

Here are the latest from Nikkei.com

1. Suspend 14 international and 17 domestic routes.
2. CEO Nishimatsu steps down.
3. JAL liabilities reaches 2.322 trillion yen.
4. Government will secure enough funding for JAL to ensure normal flight operations.
5. ETIC will bail out JAL
6. JAL files for bankruptcy.
7. JAL stocks will be delisted from Tokyo Stock Exchange on February 20 2010.
8. JAL and ETIC will hold press conference at 19:30 Japan Time. 
9. ETIC press release can be found here (in Japanese)

According to ETIC, Japan Airlines has filed for court-led restructuring, i.e. bankruptcy protection, with the Tokyo District Court. It will restructure JAL with capital injection and workforce and routes reductions.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

According to NHK World (with video), Japan Airlines has decided to file for bankruptcy protection in today's special board meeting. JAL will be the 4th largest bankruptcy in Japan history. JAL will file for bankruptcy at 17:00 Japan Time. More info on this later tonight when Japan Transport Minister Seiji Maehara hold a news conference at 17:45 Japan Time.